Israel’s claims of Palestinian incitement forget reality

As an individual who is approached by the Israeli media for interviews in various areas that are associated with Palestinian affairs and the conflict with Israel, I face many questions regarding an Israeli claim that is being circulated as if it is a well-known fact. This claim is that Palestinian books and schools incite hatred and violence against Israelis. Nowadays, this is being cited by the attacks and confrontations of the Palestinian youth, and even children, against Israelis in the context of the most recent wave of resistance. Many Israelis, who feed on the Israeli media’s information, which was never objective or neutral, claim that if it weren’t for the incitement, the youth and children would not be committing such acts that put them in danger and lead to the majority of them to lose their lives as a result.

In reality, all of the Israeli research regarding the Palestinian education books either address the period before the national authority, which began its work in 2001, i.e. during the time of occupation. The research actually looks at Jordanian and Egyptian books. In this regard, we can point to the research published by the Palestinian Media Watch, headed by Professor Itamar Marcus, who is known for his severe hostility towards Palestinians, as well as his extremism and racism. He wrote a report that focuses on the Jordanian curriculum taught during the occupation and the first period of the national authority’s operation. It did not address the new curriculums that are now being taught in every school in Palestine. By doing this, he is falsifying the facts and disregarding or omitting others. This conflicts with the principles of scientific research. He also focuses on the history books that tell the Palestinian historical narrative of what happened in Palestine, which certainly completely differ from the fabricated Zionist narrative that cannot be supported by the historical evidence found by archaeologists, even Israeli archaeologists.

It is natural for such a manner of research to produce unrealistic and false results most of the time. It is worth noting that the Palestinian education books are funded by EU countries, which examine and scrutinise every word in these books. There is no incitement, neither towards hatred nor towards violence, as the Israelis claim. In comparison to what is being taught to the Israelis, these books are considered immeasurably more open and moderate. At least when the Palestinian books show a map of Palestine, it outlines the borders of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and every Palestinian child, student, young adult and old adults knows these borders are the borders of the Palestinian state that they want to be free and independent, alongside the Israeli state. On the other hand, Israelis books display the historical map of Palestine – disregarding the borders of the West Bank and Gaza Strip – labelling it Israel. They refer to the West Bank and Gaza Strip as Judea and Samaria, not to mention considering Greater Jerusalem the unified capital of Israel.

If anyone wants to look at more details regarding how history is taught in Israeli schools, the book by Elie Podeh, a professor in modern Middle Eastern history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, titled “The Arab-Israeli Conflict in Israeli History Textbooks” is considered an important reference on this topic. It was translated into Arabic and published by the Madar Centre.

Israeli leaders ignore the influence of reality on people. This means that if we look into the reasons and motives that push Palestinians to resist, including violent resistance, we would find that the issue is not only associated with any incitement from schools, mosques, the neighbourhoods, or media, but that the issue is much deeper than this. If there actually were any forms of incitement, they would not influence the majority of youth or children if their circumstances were natural and normal and if they were living a stable life in which they are granted tranquillity, freedom and prosperity. The influence of reality is much deeper and more influential than any incitement or statements that aim to push the people to take action that may go against their nature and lead many down the road to death or something even more dangerous.

The Israelis forget that we have been under an oppressive and unfair occupation for many decades. They forget the image imprinted by reality in the minds of every Palestinian child about Israel and the Israelis. This image is a negative image that stems from live scenes experienced by these children every morning and every night. The only Israelis that Palestinian children see are soldiers who stand at checkpoints or who raid their homes and open fire or tear gas on citizens. They also see the settlers who torture their neighbours in an effort to force them to leave in order to take over their land. They are not hesitant to violate any laws, moral codes, or even religious codes when they attack people and cut down trees, acts that are prohibited by the Jewish faith.

When the extremist Jews go to Al-Aqsa and make statements threatening to demolish it and build a third temple in its place, the image is complete in the minds of even the simplest of Palestinians, let alone those who are educated and cultured. This image is that these occupiers do not want to leave us alone nor do they want us to live in our own state as an independent and free nation, just like all the other nations in the world. When the Palestinian youth and younger generation feel that their leadership or authority is helpless and is unable to protect the people from the evil associated with the occupation, they think in their own ways of acts that express their rejection of this reality and also express their desire to bring about change in their way.

Despite all of this, there are images that we must make sure are not in our media outlets, because they cause incitement against us locally and internationally. Such images include the mothers of martyrs ululating and passing out sweets. We must show our suffering and true pain every time we lose a Palestinian soul, and we must not portray ourselves as being happy that we have added to the number of our martyrs. This is a sadistic reflection on our society and a disregard for the value of life. There are images that must be reconsidered in order for us to be portrayed in our true light, i.e. a nation suffering under occupation that want to get rid of this occupation and live in freedom, security and peace. We are a nation who wants life and sanctifies it, not a nation who wants death for themselves and others.

Translated from PalSawa News, 2 March 2016.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.